Purple Roses
by charlouis
Summary: A four-part series about Harry and Ginny's break-up, and getting back together. Slightly A/U. It's finally here, Sianatra! RECENTLY EDITED 1/23/12!
1. Remembering

"She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me, she loves me not… Oh, forget it!" Harry Potter was picking petals off of a purple rose, Ginny Weasley's favourite flower.

He was at the Burrow for Percy and Audrey's wedding. He would never admit it, but his favourite part of going back was seeing Ginny again.

He had loved her for years, but she had not known until they dated in Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. He had unwillingly broken up with her at the end of his sixth year, and it was one of the worst moments of his life.

He remembered the day like it was yesterday…

* * *

><p><em>He was sitting in a stiff chair outside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There were many other chairs, also accompanied by people. There was an icy chill about the air, although it was early summertime.<em>

_About fifteen feet away from him sat a large, white tomb. Inside it laid the body of Albus Dumbledore._

_Harry had gone through so much pain in his life - the losses of his parents, a fellow classmate, and his godfather - but none could compare to this. Dumbledore had been his headmaster, his mentor, his friend. But Harry no longer had his company. It felt like a knife cutting into his heart. It also reminded him of what lay ahead._

_Voldemort. The name almost made him shudder. Though when he said it, others around him were slightly bothered by it, he did not grimace. But thinking about the future was unnerving, he needed a place to start._

_He was also reminded of what must come next. It would be one of the hardest things to do, and when their eyes met, he could tell Ginny knew what had to happen too._

_"Ginny… I… " He was at a loss for words._

_"I know," she said softly, her eyes filling up with tears. She kissed him gently for one last time._

_"These last few weeks with you have been the best of my life, Ginny, but I can't bear to think about what it would be like if this was your funeral, if it was my fault…"_

_Ginny nodded in agreement, wiping a tear from her cheek._

_"He's already used you as bait once, who's to say he won't do it again, if he ever found out that I love you?" Harry confessed as Ginny nodded, still blinking back her tears._

_"I knew this would happen, but I wanted to spend as much time with you as I could," she said quietly, leaning her head into his shoulder, crying silently. "I knew you'd have do the right thing sooner or later. This is what you were meant to do, hunt Voldemort until he's dead. And I… I love you for that."_

_He could tell she was trying to be brave. He hated seeing her like that, knowing she was hurt._

_He could already see her building up a shield around her heart as she lifted her head and let go of his hand…_

* * *

><p>But now he was free. Voldemort was dead; he had been for about a month now. The funerals and weddings were plentiful, as many people had died and the survivors wanting to start over right away, such as Percy Weasley and his fiancé, soon to be wife, Audrey.<p>

Harry was still trying to pluck up the courage to ask Ginny how she felt, and to confess to her that he still loved her no matter what.

There she was, standing under the big white tent, looking beautiful as always. She wore a knee-length purple dress that flowed from her waist, complimenting her figure. The top was thin-strapped and low-cut. Her slightly high-heeled sandals were the same color as her dress. She was chatting with a few handsome boys who seemed to be completely nuts over her. Harry watched jealously as one of them raised Ginny's hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly. His insides boiled with anger; he suddenly felt murderous towards the strange boy as he saw Ginny blushing shyly.

"You need to pull yourself together!" he muttered to himself.

"Sorry, Harry, didn't catch that," a familiar voice said behind him. "Oh! That's my favourite flower!" Ginny said happily, looking at the purple rose in Harry's hand. How had she gotten all the way over here without him noticing?

She seemed to have read his mind. "While you were lost in your thoughts, I thought I'd sneak up on you."

"Well, you certainly surprised me," he said bitterly.

"What's got your wand in a knot?" Ginny eyed him curiously.

"Absolutely nothing." He held up his hands.

"Well, you've seemed quite moody these past few days," she pointed out. "It _is_Percy and Audrey's wedding, you should brighten up a bit."

"I know. I've just been… thinking a lot," he said thoughtfully.

"Voldemort's dead, Harry, what more do you have to worry about?" she asked, raising one eyebrow, pushing a lock of ginger hair over her shoulder, widening her deep, chocolate eyes, and pursing those perfectly red lips together…

A sudden feeling swooped over him and he wanted to kiss her so badly that he almost fell over trying to calm himself.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Ginny asked, sounding concerned.

"I'm… Yes, Gin, I'm fine."

"I'll be over here." She pointed to the refreshment table and gave him a thumbs-up that he returned with a grin.

"I have more to worry about than you think," Harry muttered as she walked away.


	2. The Wedding Reception

After the wedding ceremony, Harry, Ron, and Ginny rushed straight to the refreshment table, bumping into each other and laughing loudly. Though they were three young adults and should have been acting much more mature like Hermione ("You're acting like children!"), they had been starving for three hours.

"Thank Merlin!" Ginny said, sounding relieved, as she bit into a savory chocolate biscuit. "I was starving to death!"

"Oh, yes, little sister, you were going to wither away to nothing!" George said dramatically as he and Fred walked over, helping themselves to a chocolate biscuit.

"These are delicious!" Ron said, although it was slightly hard to understand since his mouth was quite full.

"Ron!" Hermione sighed, shaking her head. "You can be _so_ rude!"

"Whatever, Hermione! I'm starving!"

Everyone laughed at how silly they were all being.

"Well, we've got to go prank Tonks. She tried to pull one on us the other day, but she should know better not to mess with us," George said.

"Yeah, we're surprised she hasn't learned by now!" Fred added.

"You two better be careful! Your mum will go mad if you ruin anything!" Hermione warned.

"We know. It won't affect anyone but Tonks. We're probably just going to curse her or use one of our products on her," George assured her with a shrug, but she didn't seem entirely convinced.

"Still be careful!" Hermione pleaded.

"We _will_!" the twins answered, rolling their eyes in annoyance.

After the twins left, Ron suggested, "Why don't we go get a table?"

"I can't. One of Fleur's cousins and his friend are here, and I said I'd sit with them," Ginny said, waving to the other three as she walked away, disappearing in the crowd.

"Harry, you don't look too good," Ron pointed out, and he was right. Harry had gone quite pale and sick-looking.

"Er… it's a bit stuffy in here, with all the people," Harry lied. "Why don't we go sit over there?" he said, pointing to a table.

"Harry, that's two tables away from Ginny. Are you _spying _on her?" Hermione asked accusingly.

"It's the first empty table I saw," he lied, blushing and avoiding Hermione's eyes.

"Liar!" Hermione hissed at him. Harry smiled sheepishly.

"I don't know if she still feels the way I do. I never stopped loving her, not even when I… when I had to end it. I only meant it to be temporary, just until Voldemort died. Well, he's dead now, and we still haven't… talked about anything." Harry sighed, looking at Ginny, who was talking animatedly with the two boys. Harry's insides boiled again, but this time he controlled himself better.

"That was over a month ago! You just need to give it a little time," Hermione advised him.

Harry continued to stare at Ginny, still feeling hopeless, but he couldn't help watching her as she ran her fingers through her beautiful, fiery hair that matched her spunky, feisty personality…

"Harry, you can't just _spy _on her!" Hermione scolded him again.

"I'm not _spying_ on her Hermione! I'm just… _watching _her?" he tried, but all he got was one of Hermione's reproving looks. He sighed again.

"Okay. I won't look at her," he said determinedly, but he stole a quick glance anyway.

"You can't even help yourself!" Hermione scolded him a third time.

"Well, I'm getting bored with you two bickering like mad. Let's go see what Fred and George did to Tonks!" Ron said excitedly. He and Harry, who was glad to have something different to think about, rushed off into the house, leaving Hermione shaking her head and sighing, "Will they ever learn?"


	3. Truth or Dare?

A few hours later, Harry was in the sitting room with Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and the twins.

"Ron, truth or dare?" Ginny asked lazily.

"What? Are we playing?" Ron asked.

"Sort of. I'm just bored," Ginny answered.

"Okay, truth."

"Who do you fancy?"

"Erm, Hermione," he replied quietly, although everyone, including Hermione, was aware of this. He was answered with laughs from Harry, Fred, and George. Hermione blushed and buried herself deeper into her book.

"Ginny, truth or dare?" Fred asked.

"Dare," she said boldly, grinning mischievously.

"I dare you to… snog Fleur's cousin's friend, if he's still here."

"I think he is," Ginny said with a playful little smile.

"Then go out there and snog the bloke!" Fred demanded, grinning slyly.

Harry's insides were boiling again and it felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. Ginny was _happy_to snog him?

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked him, feeling his forehead. He gently brushed her hand away. She turned to Fred, giving him a reproving look. "Fred, why would you dare her to do that?" At this, Fred looked rather ashamed with himself.

"It's… it's nothing, Hermione. It doesn't matter, I'm fine," Harry looked away from Hermione's knowing expression, the raised eyebrows, the widened eyes and half-smile.

"I _know_you still love her," Hermione said, putting a kind hand on his shoulder.

His face burned bright red. "Just announce it to the world, Hermione!" he said angrily to her as he got up and walked toward the doorway.

"Everyone already knew, Harry, it's not her fault," George pointed out. The others nodded.

Harry poked his head into the doorway. "I didn't say it was. I'm just having a hard time right now… I need to talk to her," Harry explained, turning around and going outside.

Ginny was talking to the boy Fred had dared her to snog. Instead of feeling angry, Harry felt crushed this time.

"Does she really fancy him instead of me?" he whispered to himself.

"Ginny!" he called anxiously.

"I'll be right back, Will," she said kindly.

"Yes, Harry?" she raised her eyebrows as she walked toward him.

Harry turned around and saw Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George at the door, smiling and giving him thumbs-up. He forced a nervous grin in their direction, then turned back around to face Ginny.

"Ginny, I – well, we need to talk. See – I never really got over…" he trailed off. Instead, he took her hands in his, leaned toward her, closed his eyes, and…

To his surprise, she pushed him away. Harry opened his eyes to see that her expression was filled with sadness and anger, and Harry's heart sank below his chest and past his feet.

"What – " he began, but she cut him off.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing? You broke up with me a bloody _year_ ago and you think you can just _kiss_ me now? _I_certainly don't think so!" she shouted angrily. People were starting to stare.

"Ginny, I can explain – " Harry started again, but she cut him off again.

"No! There's no need," she spoke icily as she pushed past him and ran into the house.

Harry was left standing there, feeling as foolish as he thought he looked, with everyone staring at him. He walked out into the yard, and everyone went back to socialising.

Except for Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George. They followed him up the hill, and sat down next to him at the top.

"Er, Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked tentatively, so as not to arise his bad temper.

"Do you _really _think I'm okay, Hermione?" he asked sarcastically. He still wouldn't turn around to face them. "I've royally screwed this up, but what else is new?"

The five of them sat there in silence, watching the clouds float across the slowly darkening sky.


	4. Ginny's Decision

It was 1:30 AM. Harry couldn't fall asleep; he was being driven mad by thoughts of Ginny.

He got out of bed and walked down the hall, stopping in front of Ginny's room. There was a light on inside, and he could hear her talking quietly with Hermione.

"But Ginny! He just wanted to _talk_to you!" Hermione hissed.

So they were talking about him. Harry wasn't surprised after all that had transpired that day.

"Well, that worked out for him, didn't it? He certainly tried to use his mouth for _something_other than talking!" Ginny whispered back angrily.

"But you should've just heard him out! He _really_cares about you!" Hermione protested again.

"I know you say that! But _he_ didn't have any problem going up to the Ravenclaw common room with_ Cho-bloody-Chang_a month ago!"

"Ginny! You _still_ think about that? That was over a month ago!" Hermione said in a tone of surprise. Harry was also taken aback. Ginny _still_felt annoyed about that?

"Well, he ditched me a _year_ ago, and I _always_think about that," Ginny replied, losing her anger and replacing it with sadness.

Harry could hear her crying quietly now. He got the same feeling of despair he had a year ago when he broke up with her, when he couldn't do anything about her sadness.

"Oh, Ginny, please don't cry," Harry heard Hermione murmur soothingly.

He acted on an impulse; he opened the door and rushed in. The two girls gaped at him.

"I hate it when you're sad. I love your laugh too much," he blurted out.

Ginny was still gaping at him. "You _heard_all that?" she finally managed to ask in a feeble, shaking voice.

"Erm, yes," he answered, feeling slightly ashamed of himself.

"Oh, _Merlin_," Ginny muttered, putting her face in her hands in embarrassment.

"I'm going to the loo, and you two can catch up…" Hermione said softly, slipping out the door.

"Er, well, Ginny, what I was trying to say at the reception was that I never really got over you. I thought about you a lot on our quest. I really missed being with you, and I guess I kind of lost my head earlier…" Harry explained.

Ginny nodded. "I really missed you, too, Harry. Just thinking about you drove me mad!"

"Really? Because you seemed quite keen to snog that _Will_guy," Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Will… well, he was like a distraction for me today… And I know it wasn't right for me to sort of, er, use him today, but I didn't have any idea how _you_felt about me, Harry! And seeing you again drove me even more mad!" Ginny sounded close to tears again.

"Why would I hold something like that against you?" Harry didn't want to let on how heartbroken he'd truly been.

"I don't know. Apparently love makes people mad." There was slight sarcasm in her voice.

Ginny raised her gaze from the floor to Harry's eyes. He knew what was coming as she slowly pressed her warm body close to his. Ginny leaned up to kiss Harry's lips tenderly. When they broke apart, she looked up at him and they smiled at each other.

Again, Harry held her close, feeling her steady heartbeat against his own chest.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Harry awoke to find himself on the floor of Ginny's bedroom. Everything was blurry, for his glasses were discarded somewhere on the floor, but he could make out shapes. Not long after he remembered his location, he realized something was putting slight pressure on his chest.<p>

When he looked, he saw a blurred redheaded figure, and he determined that it was Ginny who was lying nestled into his side. He smiled at her closed eyes and blank expression; he had never realized how fascinating she was while sleeping. He felt happiness bubbling up inside him as he gently stroked her soft hair.

Ginny's eyelids fluttered and she opened them. "Harry? You stayed?"

"Yeah, I did. We kind of, er, fell asleep here."

"Where's Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"She left for Ron's room She came back in last night. You had already fallen asleep on me." Harry chuckled.

"Sorry about that." She chuckled along with him.

"I didn't say I didn't like it," he said kindly. "It was comforting." Ginny's face broke out into an uncontrollable smile at his comment and, not being able to help himself, Harry kissed her.

Harry and Ginny left the bedroom at the same time as Ron exited his with Hermione's hand in his. Ron returned their smiles with a look of deep confusion.

"What were you doing in there?" He eyed Harry curiously.

"Erm, we were, talking, and we, er, fell asleep…" Harry answered nervously.

"Oh," Ron said dryly, his expression undeterminable. It was obvious that although he wanted Harry and Ginny to be together, he was still quite protective of her. Hermione nudged Ron in the side, and he directed a satisfied smile at Harry and Ginny.

"I'm going to get dressed," Ginny said, walking away.

"I'll be right back," Harry said quickly to Ron and Hermione.

He ran down the stairs, out the back door, and into the backyard garden.

"What would Ginny want…?" he murmured to himself, looking around the garden.

"Aha!" he shouted in triumph as he spotted the perfect gift for Ginny.

* * *

><p>When Ginny entered the kitchen, to her surprise it was empty. "Where is everybody?" she wondered aloud.<p>

Then her gaze fell upon the table, and what she saw made her smile. There was a vase full of purple roses, her favourite flower. There was a little note card next to the vase. Ginny picked it up and read it. It said_ "Love Always, Harry."_

"Oh, Harry," she whispered to herself, taking in the sweet scent of the beautiful gift Harry had given her.


End file.
